Key Takeaways
- • Secondary market volumes reached $220 billion in 2025, marking another consecutive record year, with industry insiders projecting $250 billion in total activity for 2026.
- • GP-led secondaries drove significant growth in 2025, with William Blair's report identifying this segment as a key engine of market expansion and a focus area for continued momentum.
- • Market fundamentals remain robust heading into 2026, with no signs of deceleration and continued bullishness among market participants surveyed by William Blair's Private Capital Advisory team.
- • Record volumes exceeded expectations throughout 2025, demonstrating sustained institutional demand for secondary market liquidity and LP portfolio rebalancing activity despite broader market volatility.
Summary
William Blair's 2026 Secondary Market Report documents a secondary market in sustained expansion, with 2025 delivering $220 billion in transaction volumes—the second consecutive record year for the sector. The market's resilience and growth trajectory has positioned secondaries as a critical component of alternative asset allocation strategies, with industry insiders projecting activity will reach $250 billion by year-end 2026.
The continued strength in secondaries reflects structural demand drivers across the institutional investor base. GP-led secondary transactions emerged as a primary growth catalyst in 2025, with general partners increasingly executing continuation funds, dividend recapitalizations, and portfolio company sales through secondary mechanisms. This shift has enabled GPs to extend hold periods, optimize capital deployment, and provide liquidity to limited partners seeking portfolio management flexibility—a dynamic that William Blair's research identifies as sustainable going forward.
Market participants surveyed by William Blair exhibit heightened optimism for 2026, with projections of $250 billion in annual volume reflecting confidence in sustained institutional demand for secondary market liquidity. The absence of deceleration signals despite macroeconomic headwinds and equity market volatility underscores the sector's fundamental appeal as a liquidity mechanism for portfolio rebalancing and risk management. William Blair's Private Capital Advisory team notes that the secondary market's resilience across multiple market cycles demonstrates its maturation as a core component of institutional capital allocation rather than a cyclical or opportunistic strategy.
The market's expansion reflects deeper trends in private capital markets architecture, including the growing prevalence of continuation vehicles, longer fund deployment periods, and increased LP demand for interim liquidity without full portfolio liquidation. These structural shifts suggest that secondary market growth may reflect permanent shifts in how capital moves through private markets rather than temporary supply-demand imbalances.
The continued strength in secondaries reflects structural demand drivers across the institutional investor base. GP-led secondary transactions emerged as a primary growth catalyst in 2025, with general partners increasingly executing continuation funds, dividend recapitalizations, and portfolio company sales through secondary mechanisms. This shift has enabled GPs to extend hold periods, optimize capital deployment, and provide liquidity to limited partners seeking portfolio management flexibility—a dynamic that William Blair's research identifies as sustainable going forward.
Market participants surveyed by William Blair exhibit heightened optimism for 2026, with projections of $250 billion in annual volume reflecting confidence in sustained institutional demand for secondary market liquidity. The absence of deceleration signals despite macroeconomic headwinds and equity market volatility underscores the sector's fundamental appeal as a liquidity mechanism for portfolio rebalancing and risk management. William Blair's Private Capital Advisory team notes that the secondary market's resilience across multiple market cycles demonstrates its maturation as a core component of institutional capital allocation rather than a cyclical or opportunistic strategy.
The market's expansion reflects deeper trends in private capital markets architecture, including the growing prevalence of continuation vehicles, longer fund deployment periods, and increased LP demand for interim liquidity without full portfolio liquidation. These structural shifts suggest that secondary market growth may reflect permanent shifts in how capital moves through private markets rather than temporary supply-demand imbalances.
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